There once was an Assam tea from Kenya. Couldn't find any way to make it other than frighteningly bitter. And my first encounter with a now-favorite white bud sheng puerh included an overlong first steep, because I'd gotten distracted for a couple of minutes, and I had really packed the little pot. Aiyeee! It's a wonder I persevered enough to find out how much I love it.

Saturday was a bitter-free day--sencha start, midday Bao Zhong from HouDe, and ending with some Jin Guan Yin from Norbu. Mmmm.

A few of us happened to stop in a coffee shop in Boston called the "Wired Puppy". Not being a coffee drinker, I saw they had a decent loose tea sencha on the menu (at about $6.50 if I am remembering correctly). So that's what I ordered.

They very carefully brewed it................. with about 212F water!!!!!!!

From the taste, it would have been some good sencha if they had a clue about water temps and tea.

Today I'm sampling the 15 year aged roasted Dong Ding from FLT. Good, complex tea. Has the smooth chocolatey texture of a nicely roasted TGY, but also a firm fruit-like acidity that reminds of certain kinds of coffee.

Following the brewing directions on the tin, calling for boiling water, yielded a bitter brew second to none ... it is amazing I did not toss the can in the trash and never try greens again.

But instead I called the customer service #. In hindsight, the woman was NOT trained in the brewing of green teas and stood by the directions on the label.

Still, I did not quit the greens, but did figure out how to brew them sans TeaChat. And obviously still love the greens.

The other most memorable one was a Darjeeling, from RoT. Again followed the directions, and again bitter to the nth degree. And again the customer service person towed the corporate line and said, "a good tea will be bitter ..."

Needless to say, I moved on from RoT ... and they are "my Teavana," both good and bad. But wait ... they have a new sencha ... I think I will passssssss ...

Too bad i didn't research anything on my first try. Probably it was thanks to my age i was really impatient with such stuff I don't know what it actually was, some loose leaf green tea i bought in shop back in Estonia. Bitter, only bitter, i could not feel anything else. So after spending much more than on my usual teabags i was disappointed and never tried again until i came to Japan

Drinking houjicha now, well... mostly smelling I can just sit and smell houjicha for long time while reading something. By the time i try drinking it, it's already cold

Most memorable was a Darjeeling tea I purchased at a tea shop small tea shop, over sea's. I do not know why I got it, but wow, first try at brewing it I butchered it horribly, although I forget if it was too much leaf or too long of a steep. But even when I got it under control it never really was that great of a tea.

Hmmm...it was definitely some pu'er I had...but I think I've tried to erase it form memory....Sometimes I forget that I'm brewing tea and when I finally remember to go back and drink it, the tea's gotten cold and bitter somewhat but still drinkable.

It was Vietnamese gourd tea, which has become infamous among my friends because they didn't believe me when I told them how horrid I found it...so I passed around the box so they could sniff it, and everyone gagged. It wasn't so much bitter as just plain gross.

Today I did not have any tea that prompted me to make a grossed-out face. Hojicha for breakfast, a lot of iced green tea all day, currently sipping on some very yummy matcha.